Question by savannahbananah: can anyone help with my morphine project? I need just bits of info. and everywhere i go it won’t let me on.?
i need to do a project in morphine and everywhere i try and get on to it won’t let me… so if you can just post some things about morphine (the drug)

Best answer:

Answer by LALAMorphine (INN) (pronounced /?m?rfi?n/) is a highly potent opiate analgesic drug, is the principal active agent in opium, and is considered to be the prototypical opioid. Like other opioids, e.g. oxycodone, hydromorphone, and diacetylmorphine (heroin), morphine acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to relieve pain. Morphine has a high potential for addiction; tolerance and both physical and psychological dependence develop rapidly.
Effects on Human Performance

Most reviews conclude that opioids produce minimal impairment of human performance on tests of sensory, motor, or attentional abilities. However, recent studies have been able to show some impairments caused by morphine, which is not surprising given that morphine is a central nervous system depressant. Morphine has resulted in impaired functioning on critical flicker frequency (a measure of overall CNS arousal) and impaired performance on the Maddox Wing test (a measure of deviation of the visual axes of the eyes). Few studies have investigated the effects of morphine on motor abilities; a high dose of morphine can impair finger tapping and the ability to maintain a low constant level of isometric force (ie. fine motor control is impaired)[36], though no studies have shown a correlation between morphine and gross motor abilities.

In terms of cognitive abilities, one study has shown that morphine may have a negative impact on anterograde and retrograde memory[37], but these effects are minimal and are transient. Overall, it seems that acute doses of opioids in non-tolerant subjects produce minor effects in some sensory and motor abilities, and perhaps also in attention and cognition. It is likely that the effects of morphine will be more pronounced in opioid-naive subjects than chronic opioid users.

In chronic opioid users, such as those on Chronic Opioid Analgesic Therapy (COAT) for managing severe, chronic pain, behavioural testing has shown normal functioning on perception, cognition, coordination and behaviour in most cases. One recent study[38] analysed COAT patients in order to determine whether they were able to safely operate a motor vehicle. The findings from this study suggest that stable opioid use does not significantly impair abilities inherent in driving (this includes physical, cognitive and perceptual skills). COAT patients showed rapid completion of tasks which require speed of responding for successful performance (eg. Rey Complex Figure Test) but made more errors than controls. COAT patients showed no deficits in visual-spatial perception and organization (as shown in the WAIS-R Block Design Test) but did show impaired immediate and short-term visual memory (as shown on the Rey Complex Figure Test – Recall). These patients showed no impairments in higher order cognitive abilities (ie. Planning). COAT patients appeared to have difficulty following instructions and showed a propensity towards impulsive behaviour, yet this did not reach statistical significance. Importantly, this study reveals that COAT patients have no domain-specific deficits, which supports the notion that chronic opioid use has minor effects on psychomotor, cognitive, or neuropsychological functioning.

It is difficult to study the performance effects of morphine without considering why a person is taking morphine. Opioid-naive subjects are volunteers in a pain-free state. However, most chronic-users of morphine use it to manage pain. Pain is a stressor and so it can confound performance results, especially on tests that require a large degree of concentration. Pain is also variable, and will vary over time and from person to person. It is unclear to what extent the stress of pain may cause impairments, and it is also unclear whether morphine is potentiating or attenuating these impairments.

A narcotic analgesic drug used in medicine in the form of its hydrochloride, sulfate, acetate, and tartrate salts. Morphine was isolated from opium by the German chemist F.W.A. Sertürner in about 1804. In its power to reduce the level of physical distress, morphine is among the most important naturally occurring compounds, being of use in the treatment of pain caused by cancer and in cases where other analgesics have failed. It also has a calming effect that protects the system against exhaustion in traumatic shock, internal hemorrhage, congestive heart failure, and debilitated conditions (as certain forms of typhoid fever). It is most frequently administered by injection to ensure rapid action, but it is also effective when given orally.
Morphine produces a relaxed, drowsy state and many side effects that result from the depression of the respiratory, circulatory, and gastrointestinal systems. It also is an emetic and a general depressant. The most serious drawback to the drug is its addictiveness.
Morphine, an opium alkaloid, can be converted into heroin, which shows a considerably stronger euphoric effect and is so powerfully addictive that its manufacture is legally prohibited in many countries. Other derivatives of morphine include the analgesics methylmorphine (codeine), ethylmorphine, dihydrocodeinone, and dihydromorphinone and the emetic apomorphine.
The structure of morphine proposed in the 1920s by J.M. Gulland and R. Robinson was confirmed in 1952 by its total synthesis, accomplished by M. Gates and G. Tschudi. Synthetic organic chemistry also has provided a number of compounds (as meperidine, methadone, and pentazocine) that have in part supplanted morphine in medical use.
Morphine is extracted from the dried milky exudate of the unripe seed capsule of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum). It occurs as colourless crystals or a white crystalline powder.
Encyclopædia Britannica

A form of liquid morphine used by terminally ill patients will remain on the market even though it is an “unapproved drug,” according to a decision by the Food and Drug Administration. After talking with hospital and hospice organizations, which expressed concern that taking the product off the market would result in hardship for terminally ill patients and their caregivers, the agency decided to extend the usage of morphine sulfate oral solution 20 mg/ml. The agency wants to ensure there is no shortage of the drug while patients wait for an approved product to take its place.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/04/10/fda.morphine.market/

Morphine is the principal constituent of opium and can range in concentration from 4 to 21 percent. Commercial opium is standardized to contain 10-percent morphine. In the United States, a small percentage of the morphine obtained from opium is used directly (about 15 tons): the remaining is converted to codeine and other derivatives (about 120 tons). Morphine is one of the most effective drugs known for the relief of severe pain and remains the standard against which new analgesics are measured. Like most narcotics, the use of morphine has increased significantly in recent years. Since 1990, there has been about a 3-fold increase in morphine products in the United States. It is the drug of choice for relieving pain of myocardial infarction and for its cardiovascular effects in the treatment of acute pulmonary edema. Traditionally; morphine was almost exclusively used by injection.

A pharmacist explains on this video how Morphine works, why doctors prescribe this powerful pain killer, and common side effects of the drug.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9LmjkMp9Nc